A promotion for the USDA Illinois rural development director puts Molly Hammond in charge – temporarily.
The longtime deputy director says some, but not all, of her office’s programs help the needy.
“With the housing program specifically we are helping the homeowner, whether it’s helping them purchase a new home, or it’s helping them male repairs to their existing home,” said Hammond. “Other programs that we have are more widespread. We have a distance learning and telemedicine grant where we can give a grant to an entity that wants to put in some technology that will help a community college teach kids that are 100 miles away get a class they may not have gotten.”
The programs, Hammond says, touch all 102 counties.
“We help in community projects: housing assistance and business projects as well as utilities. We do loans and grants through all of those different types of projects, as well as broadband. So we are basically trying to help rural communities throughout the state be more economically viable,” said Hammond. “We say we can build a community from the ground up, because we can really help with all aspects that a community might need.”
Springfield’s Betsy Dirksen Londrigan has left the position, having been promoted to a job in Washington. Hammond will not be a candidate for the permanent job – it’s a political appointment, and she’s career.
